be inappropriate. But you will find that such times, in-
evitable as they are, are proportionately few.
N or am I suggesting that you boom through
life with a Santa Claus "Ho! ... Ho!! ... HolI!" I am sug-
gesting quiet laughter. Take an amused attitude toward
yourself, your problems and difficulties, the situations and
people causing them, and, especially, life itself. Laugh!
And, if it is inappropriate to laugh heartily and openly-
then laugh quietly ... but laugh! It is the relaxed attitude
of laughter-not the amount of noise you make-that deter-
mines your response toward your daily experiences.
What is quiet laughter? How can you do it?
In two ways: First, do as recommended in Chapter 25:
smile with your eyes. Then, say quietly to yourself, "Ha!
... Ha!! ... Ha!!!" Sound silly? Well, it isn't silly. It will
mean making laughter, quiet laughter; or, when appropriate
rousing laughter, a relaxing and joyful substitute for a
tension-filled, hypersensitive, self-centered, unhappy life!
Remember, you can't be hypersensitive, self-
centered and engulfed in self-pity while you laugh at your-
self! So don't take yourself so seriously. There are so many
things over which you must either cry or curse or laugh.
Choose to laugh! Laughter is your declaration of superiority
ove1' whatever befalls you!
Against the assault of laughter, nothing can
stand. Neither fear, nor worry, nor gloom, nor depreSSion,
nor resentment, nor hate, nor self-consciousness, nor hyper-
sensitivity, nor self-pity can co-exist with laughter.
"He who has the courage to laugh, is master
of the world nearly as much as he who is prepared to die."